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The Anti-Drug Abuse Act is passed.

1986

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The act establishes a 100:1 ratio for mandatory minimums associated with cocaine. For example, it takes 5,000 grams of powdered cocaine, which is mostly consumed by white "yuppies," to land a person in prison for a minimum of 5 years, but only 50 grams of crack cocaine, a cheaper form of cocaine used predominantly by impoverished Black and Brown communities, to do the same.

In large part due to this law, from 1994 to 2003, the difference between the average time African-American drug "offenders" serve in prison will increase by 77%, compared to an increase of 28% for white people arrested for drugs.

This law also de-regulates the production of new pharmaceutical drugs, which leads to the development of oxycontin.